Process and apparatus for the treatment of loose materials such as textile fibers

ABSTRACT

This method and the installation for carrying out same are divised for applying a fast dye to floss fibers of all kinds, notably in the manufacture of carpets and blankets, and consists essentially in opening the fibers, sucking them through the rotor of a fan via a conduit, atomizing the dyeing liquor through an orifice into said conduit in close vicinity of said fan, the atomized dyeing liquor representing from five to fifty per cent by weight of the fibers, and finally exposing said fibers to a vaporization in order definitely to fix the dyestuff thereto.

United States Patent 1191 Dillies PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT OF LOOSE MATERIALS SUCH AS TEXTILE FIBERS Inventor: Pierre Dillies, 10 rue du l l Novembre 59, Croix, France Filed: Oct. 4, 1971 Appl. No.: 186,235

Related U.S. Application Data Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 7,962, Dec. 31, 1968, abandoned.

us. 0. ..8/l49.2, 8/1493, 8/156, 68/5 1) 1m. 01. ..B05b 7/14 Field 61 Search ..68/5 D, 5 E; 8/156, /1491, 149.2, 149.3; 19/205 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1937 Campbell et al ..8/156 X 7/1970 Gruner et a1. ..8/156 X Apr. 24, 1973 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 649,451 1/1951 Great Britain ..8/156 Primary Examiner-William 1. Price Attorney-Robert E. Burns et al.

[57] ABSTRACT This method and the installation for carrying out same are divised for applying a fast dye to floss fibers of all kinds, notably in the manufacture of carpets and blankets, and consists essentially in opening the fibers, sucking them through the rotor of a fan via a conduit, atomizing the dyeing liquor through an orifice into said conduit in close vicinity of said fan, the atomized dyeing liquor representing from five to fifty per cent by weight of the fibers, and finally exposing said fibers to a vaporization in order definitely to fix the dyestuff thereto.

5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures Patented April 24, 1973 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ptente d A ril 24, 1973 3,729,290

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 7,962, entitled Process and apparatus for the treatment of Loose materials such as textile fibres, l

filed Dec. 31, 1968 and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates in general to a method of dyeing textile floss fibers, and more particularly to a method of dying textile floss fibers with a view to apply a fast, resistant dye to floss fibers of all kinds, notably those utilized in the manufacture of carpets and blankets.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART The most popular method now used in this field for obtaining good-quality dyed floss fibers consists in immersing fiber bales during several hours in dyeing vessels or tanks of considerable volumetric capacity. In this case, the dying liquor comprising essentially water and a diluted dyestuff is utilized in large amounts, considering the material to be dyed, the proportion being as a rule in the range of from one thousand per cent to three thousands per cent in relation to the weight of material to be dyed. The dyestuff concentration in this case is always less than one per cent. Due to the necessity of fixing the dyestuff on the fiber surfa ce, this huge mass of water and fibers must be heated during the immersion, whether the operation is carried out under atmospheric or higher than atmospheric pressure.

Now these known processes involve a considerable consumption not only of water to be incorporated in the-dyeing liquor, but also of power for heating the assembly. On the other hand, the pollution resulting from the discharge or disposal of this large mass of used water constitutes a difficult problem.

According to another known method an endeavor was made with a view to avoid the inconveniences resulting from the useof large treatment vessels for degreasing and washing cotton floss by saturation through the use of adequate reagents. In this case, the material to be treated is fed to a conduit the intermediary of a fan and directed to a receiving vessel. Between the vessel and the fan, a treatment liquid is injected into the conduit in which the fibers are caused to travel. Between the point of injection of this treatment liquid and the receiving vessel, means such as baffles or the like are provided in the conduit for retarding the flow of fibers therethrough, in order properly to wet the' fibers with the treatment liquid. The cotton and liquid mass is then received by the vessel provided with means for draining its contents fromthe bottom. Now'the amounts of liquid reagents required. for carrying out this process are of the order of one thousand to ten thousand to ten thousands per cent by weight of the cotton introduced initially. Under these conditions, the function of the fan is not essentially to reduce appreciably the quantity of reagents utilized but primarily to drive the fibers through the conduit. Onthe other hand, this method although advantageous for accom- 2 plishing a degreasing and washing operation by saturation is not fully satisfactory in the case of a dyeing operation, especially if a fast and resistant dyeing of floss fibers is contemplated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the essential object of the dyeing method of the invention to avoid the inconveniences set forth hereinabove and accordingly this invention aims at reducing considerably the amount of dyeing liquor required for a given amount of fibers, the conventional proportion of one thousand to three thousands per cent as experienced heretofore being reduced to about five per cent to about fifty per cent, thus affording substantial savings in the amount of water necessary for diluting the dyestuff.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a method wherein the heating of the entire mass of dyeing liquor for fixing the dyestuff to the fibers is avoided, the necessary fixation being obtained by vaporizing an auxiliary fluid onto the already dyed fibers.

In addition, this invention provides a method wherein the risk of pollution is minimized due to the use ofa considerably reduced amount of water.

Another object of the method of this invention is to avoid the handling of fiber bales and also the storage thereof, as they emerge from the dyeing vessels prior to the opening of said bales, since it produces loosened or opened dyed fibers having very fast and resistant colors.

Another complementary object of this invention consists in permitting the recycling of fibers in order to obtain the desired tint value.

The method of dyeing fiber floss with fast and resistant colors according to this invention consists'in opening the fibers, exposing said opened fibers to the air suction produced by a fan via a suitable conduit, atomizing a liquid dye liquor into said conduit through an orifice located in close vicinity of said fan, the amount of dyeing liquor representing from 5 to 50 percent by weight of the fibers, and subjecting the dyed fibers to a vaporization step for fixing the dyestuff definitely.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING An exemplary form of embodiment of the means for carrying out the method of this invention is illustrated in the attached drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic general view of the installation and I FIG. 2 is a detail view showing the fan, the conduit and the means for injecting the liquor at the very location where the dyeing action takes place.

DESCRIPTION or THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:

The raw material to be dyed may consist ofa mixture of fibers having different denier values.

-During a first stage of the process, i.e., the fiber opening operation, the material is treated with a conventional conditioning rate, such as 16 to 18 percent of awater in the case of wool, and less than in the case of synthetic fibers.

This fiber opening operation is conventional in the textile industry. In consists in separating the fibers from a bale of compact fibers. However, this operation, so far as the Applicant is aware, was not performed heretofore before but always after the dyeing operation proper. This opening operation may be performed by using a plurality of machines such as a beater or willow (also referred to as a wool-breaker in the wool indus try), as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1.

The thus opened material is subsequently sucked by a powerful fan disposed downstream of the beater or willow, and connected thereto via a conduit. Advantageously, a conduit having very smooth inner walls is used in order to produce a substantialnegative pressure. Then, the material to be treated flows through the conduit, preferably in the central portion of its cross section, and has its maximum flow speed across the fan rotor. The opened material travelling at a relatively high speed is divided sufficiently to be dyed for the greater part in the vicinity of the rotor and blades of the aforesaid fan.

To obtain high-quality dyed products, the liquor is atomized into the conduit in the fan area thereof. The nozzle jet is directed towards the fan rotor so that most of the material be dyed in the area where the maximum negative pressure is recorded.

It is by virtue of this atomizing treatment that the aforesaid huge amounts of water are spared by atomizing a dyestuffliquor having an abnormally high dyestuff content or concentration in relation to hitherto used process. The liquors implemented may contain up to 30 percent of dyestuff whereas in conventional dyeing vessels or tanks the concentration is less than one per cent. The amount of dyestuff implemented in the method of this invention (and calculated in relation to the weight of fibers) ranges from 1 to 6 percent. In fact, with this method, it is possible to perform several atomizations on a recycled fiber for obtaining the desired tint value. In this case, the material is opened again upon completion of its first passage through the installation, before accomplishing the second atomization. It is advantageous to make several such passages if the desired tint or color is particularly dark. Thus, very good results have been obtained with three passages in the case ofa dark color, two passages in the case ofa medium-strength color, and a single passage if a very light color is desired. According to the number of passages contemplated, the atomizing output may vary within wide limits.

The dyestuffs utilized for carrying out this invention are conventional and vary as a function of the material to be treated. These dyestuffs may include inter alia acid, basic, dispersed, reactive or dyestuffs. Among these groups of dyestuffs, those having the greater solubility in water will be preferred, of course, in order to accomplish the atomization of a very concentrated liquor The amount of atomized dyestuff contained in the liquor is from one to six per metallife'rouscent by weight of the treated fibers. It may also be noted that a maximum concentration of atomizing liquor may be obtained if a single passage is used for a very light color, but this concentration will be weaker if three passages are contemplated for a dark color. In any case, the atomized liquor output should be kept below a reasonable limit in order to avoid wetting or flooding the conduits. At least 90 percent of the liquor input should have been absorbed by the fibers emerging from the fan.

A further step consisting in vaporizing the freshly dyed fibers is then necessary for definitely fixing the dyestuff thereon. Very satisfactory results are obtained by using saturated stream injected into an enclosure, under vacuum or not, during a time period ranging from 30 to minutes, according to the desired tint, shade or color strength. An advantageous feature of this vaporization accomplished after the dyeing operation proper by utilizing a vacuumized enclosure is that it permits of bringing the fibers to the desired moisture content. Thus, the fibers can be process directly in a card.

Reference will now be made to FIG. 1 showing the diagrammatically the installation for carrying out the method of this invention; The floss fibers from opened bales are introduced at 1 into a high out-put loader 2 and received by a conveyor 3 driven from a power and reduction-gearing unit 4. The still unopened material is poured at 5 by loader 2 onto a conveyor 6 leading to the inlet 7 of a heater or willow designated in general by the reference numeral 8. This beater or willow 8 consists conventionally of a central drum 9 carrying teeth 10. A plurality of couples ll of secondary toothed drums 12, 13 are disposed along the outer periphery of the central drum 9. The linear speed of this central drum 9 is considerably greater than the speeds of the secondary drums l2 and 13 engaging the material with their teeth 14. A so-called working drum l2 retains the material which is subsequently returned return to the central drum 9 by the strinping drum 13. This beater is thus adapted to prepare the material preliminary to the dyeing operation proper. The reference numeral 15 also shows an optional cleaning drum adapted to remove with its teeth 16 the fibers retained by the teeth 10 of the central drum.

At the outlet 17 of the card-beater 8 a conduit 18 is disposed; this conduit has preferably smooth inner walls and its inlet end is closed by a grid 23, and the other end of the conduit is centered to the rotor 19 of a fan 20.

in close proximity of this fan 20 the wall of conduit 18 gas an opening 21 though which the dyeing liquor is adapted to be fed via a pipe or nozzle 22. At the outlet end of this pipe is a jet 22a adapted to spray the liquor into the conduit 18 in the minute droplets. Advantageously, the opening 21 is larger than the outer diameter of pipe 22 to permit the proper orientation of the atomized liquid towards the rotor 19. in this case the pipe 22 consists of a flexible hose or like element. The opening 21 also permits, as will be explained presently, of adjusting the output of atomized liquid according to the number of passages contemplated, by fitting ajet' 22a of adequate size.

The fan 20 causes the fibers to travel through the conduit 18 by sucking external air through the grid 23.

The dyed fibers are ejected from the outlet passage 24 of fan and then stored in a basket 25. The end 26 of outlet passage 24 may advantageously by angularly adjustably above the basket 25 to permit the mixing of fibers of different deniers, as required for example in the manufacture carpets or blankets, In the present in stances an elbow, swivel mounted at 27, is provided.

When the basket 25 is filled with dyed fibers it is introduced into a vaporizer shown diagrammatically at 28. The basket 25 may be guided to this end by a suitable track (not shown). The vaporizer 28 receives from a source 29 saturated steam adapted to heat all the fibers in order definitely to fix the dyestuff thereto. The steam may be introduced under pressure, and the vaporizer proper may advantageously be kept at a pressure below the atmospheric value so that after a passage lasting about one hour the dyed fibers have the requisite and normal conditioning rate.

if a plurality of such passages are contemplated, in the case of a dark ting, the fibers emerging from the fan at 24 are introduced into a return conduit 30 leading to the inlet 1 of a loader 2. Thus, the cycle is resumed and the fibers are exposed to a second, and if necessary to a third dyeing operation by atomization.

The following examples illustrate quantitatively the values applicable to the method of this invention for obtaining fast and resistant dyes in the case of two different materials. Of course, the method as described as is also applicable to other dyestuff and fiber materials.

Example 1 it is desired to dye eight hundred kilograms of wool consisting ofa mixture of fleece and zealand pieces.

The dyeing liquor employed to this end and atomized during two passages onto the material, i.e., during 90 minutes, had the following composition:

water 140 kg, bright cibalane yellow 3 GL 4 kg, scarlet 3.6 kg, commercial ammonium acetate 8 liters.

The material output measured on conveyor 6 was 500 kg/h. Two passages were used and the suction power ofthe fan was 7,000 N cubic meters /h.

The vaporization was carried out during one hour at 98C. The vaporizer pressure was 200 mm Hg.

The quantity of material thus treated was limited by the use ofa l20-cm wide breaker.

After the dyeing operation, the fibers could be processed directly in a card for making a carpet having a fast and strong color.

Example2 The material to be dyed consisted of 800 kg of water amichrome black R B L L 10 kg, acetic acid l2 liters.

The material output was 600 kg for each passage and the vaporization was accom lished in four cycles of eight minutes each at The fan suction was 10,000 N cubic meters per hour.

It will be obvious to those conversant with the art that the large amounts of water have thus been saved while obtaining fast colors on the good quality fibers.

Although this invention has been described with reference to specific examples, it will readily occur to those conversant with the art that it provides a convenient, economical and reliable method of applying fast colors by atomization dyeing to floss fibers, and also a convenient installation for carrying out said method.

What I claim is:

1. Method of applying a fast and strong dye to floss fibers, which consists in opening the fibers, sucking them through the rotor of a fan by means of a conduit, atomizing a liquid dyeing liquor into said conduit through an orifice disposed in the vicinity of said fan, upstream thereof, the amount of dyeing liquor representing five to fifty per cent by weight of the fibers, and finally vaporizing the dyed fibers for definitively fixing the dyestuff thereof.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fibers are opened and atomized several times before accomplishing the vaporizing step.

3. Method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said vaporization is accomplished in vacuo in order to bring the fibers to the desired moisture content at the end of the treatment.

4. installation for applying a fast and strong dye to floss fibers, which comprises means for opening the fibers, a conduit connected to the outlet of said fiber opening means, a suction fan disposed ;:t the downstream end of said conduit, a first opening in said conduit for introducing main air into said conduit in the vicinity of the outlet, of said fiber opening means, a second opening in said conduit just upstream of said fan, means for atomizing the dyeing liquor through said second opening, a fiber receiving basket located at the outlet of said fan, and a vaporizer adapted to receive said basket.

5. installation as set forth in claim 4, wherein a movable outlet member is disposed downstream of said fan above said basket. 

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fibers are opened and atomized several times before accomplishing the vaporizing step.
 3. Method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said vaporization is accomplished in vacuo in order to bring the fibers to the desired moisture content at the end of the treatment.
 4. Installation for applying a fast and strong dye to floss fibers, which comprises means for opening the fibers, a conduit connected to the outlet of said fiber opening means, a suction fan disposed at the downstream end of said conduit, a first opening in said conduit for introducing main air into said conduit in the vicinity of the outlet, of said fiber opening means, a second opening in said conduit just upstream of said fan, means for atomizing the dyeing liquor through said second opening, a fiber receiving basket located at the outlet of said fan, and a vaporizer adapted to receive said basket.
 5. Installation as set forth in claim 4, wherein a movable outlet member is disposed downstream of said fan above said basket. 